1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pattern printing apparatus. More particularly, it relates to the art of pattern printing of systems such as a photoengraving process, to pattern printing for printed circuit boards, and to a block copy printing system.
2. Background of the Invention
The photoengraving process industry employs many kinds of small-lot production. With the widespread use of color scanners, various sorts of labor-saving machinery have been introduced. However, labor intensive techniques are still relied upon in the plate collection process.
As a result, there has been proposed a robot for making original negative plates by equipping a hand member with a data detection sensor for detecting the data of each of several marks which identify the contents of operation assigned to the pattern printing process. The data detection sensor would read data including identifying the kinds of films for use in printing a pattern and the contents of the operation. The robot would mechanically implement various sorts of operation by means of a controllng device such as a computer since the hand member would be not only rotatable but also transversely, vertically and longitudinally movable. The detailed description of the above described robot for negative plate making has already been given in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 170916/83.
However, since no variable operational order setting mechanism is installed nor is a mechanism installed for displaying the operational order of the controlling device, for displaying the results of the pattern printing operation and for displaying an error message, a disadvantage is that it takes too much time to detect a portion experiencing difficulty during an alteration of the operational order or following a pattern printing error.